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영어

The paintings of the Eight Drunken Immortals refer to the paintings based on an influential poem called “The Song of the Eight Drunken Immortals” by Du Fu, a Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty. This poem is about the eccentricity of the Eight Immortals known for their love of drinking. The Eight Drunken Immortals have been widely appreciated among East Asian intellectuals, and their stories have also been translated into paintings. Greatly influenced by Li Gonglin’s Painting of the Eight Drunken Immortals, people in China have the tendency to create similar scroll paintings, using contour drawing tools. Meanwhile, in Korea, the paintings of the Eight Drunken Immortals have been widely appreciated both as a type of visual art embodying the Drunken Immortals’ taste for the arts and as a meaningful object conveying the people’s wish for longevity and eternal friendship. According to historical records, the paintings of the Eight Drunken Immortals from the Ming Dynasty were drawn on eight-fold folding screens using a sophisticated ink wash painting technique. In the meantime, the Painting of the Eight Drunken Immortals appreciated by King Jeongjo from the Joseon Dynasty was a colored landscape painting with small human figures on an eight-fold folding screen. Since the recent discovery of Yi Han-cheol’s Painting of the Eight Drunken Immortals on an eight-fold folding screen, it has now become possible to imagine how renowned artists such as Kim Hong-do and Kim Yang-gi would have made the narrative figure paintings. In particular, the story of Li Bai, one of the Eight Immortals, was the most famous one often told in the paintings. After the 19th century, there was even an entire panel of narrative folding screen made about Li Bai. As painting manuals and outline drawings were pervasively used, the narrative paintings on Li Bai were mass-produced among commoners. As you can see from this, the Eight Drunken Immortals have been visually represented as thirsty souls who are not disconnected from the world, as honest men of refined taste for the arts, and as protagonists of an object that conveys the people’s wish for longevity and eternal friendship. In other words, the paintings of the Eight Drunken Immortals embody multiple undertones: as paintings based on Du Fu’s poems and as narrative paintings on the Eight Immortals.

한국어

음중팔선도는 당나라 시인 두보가 유달리 술을 좋아한 여덟 명의 기이한 행동을 읊은 <음중팔선가>를 도해한 그림이다. 유달리 술을 사랑한 음중팔선은 동아시아의 지식인에게 많은 사랑을 받았고, 이들의 일화는 그림으로 표현되었다. 중국에서는 이공린 <음중팔선도>의 영향으로 두루마리에 백묘법으로 그린 음중팔선도가 유행했다. 우리나라에서도 음중팔선도는 술을 좋아하는 취객의 엉뚱한 행적과 그들이 지닌 남다른 풍류를 그린 시각물로, 혹은 영원한 우정과 무병장수를 기원하는 축수물(祝壽物)로 폭넓게 감상되었다. 기록에 따르면, 김명국의 음중팔선도는 세밀한 담채기법의 8폭 그림이었고, 정조가 어람한 음중팔선도는 8폭으로 된 채색의 대경산수인물화였다. 또한 최근 이한철의 ≪음중팔선도≫ 8폭 병풍이 소개되어 김홍도, 김양기로 이어지는 화원들의 고사인물화 제작 양상도 상상해 볼 수 있었다. 특히 음중팔선 중에서 가장 인기가 높았던 이백의 고사는 음중팔선도와 별도로 많이 그려졌고, 심지어 19세기 이후에는 고사도 병풍의 한 폭을 차지하게 되었다. 화보와 초본이 활용되면서 민간에서 비슷한 이백 고사도가 대량 생산된 것이다. 이렇듯 음중팔선도는 세상과 완전히 단절하지 않은 애주가로, 솔직하게 행동하는 풍류인으로, 술로 맺어진 영원한 우정과 무병장수를 염원하는 축수물의 주인공으로 시각화되었다. 이것이 두보의 시의도이자 팔선의 고사도인 음중팔선도가 지닌 다층적 함의라고 할 수 있다.